


Looking For Guidance

by UnorthodoxSavvy



Series: Looking For Guidance [1]
Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alcohol, Guidance Counselors, M/M, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 11:26:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 13,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8326033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnorthodoxSavvy/pseuds/UnorthodoxSavvy
Summary: Frank doesn't have the most normal life, but it's manageable, that is, until he gets raped by his teacher. Teaming up with his Guidance Counselor, he seeks to have her removed, however, in the meantime, things get much more complicated, and loyalties are called into question by everyone.
TRIGGERS: Rape and Alcohol and smut with the rape scene.





	1. Situations

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, it's Savvy, so, if the intro seems a bit weird, it's because it's based off the music video for "Situations" by Escape the Fate, which my YouTube keeps putting on my mixes, so I've just come to listen to it, and the story is based (in part) off of it. Just know that's why it doesn't really fit with the rest of the story. I'm also sorry for the blatant "introduce every character in the beginning of the story even if they aren't relevant" thing I've done that everyone hates, but it's more of a referral if anyone needs. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
> 
> -Savvy

Nothing in Frank’s life was normal.

For starters, his dad was way into collectibles. Of anything. The garage was a scary place. His mom, on the other hand, was a government agent, but acted like a typical soccer mom. Which was stupid, because Frank didn’t like to play soccer. At all. His best friend, Charlie, however, was a total sports fanatic. Not just that, but he was good at it. Charlie and Frank were a really odd combination, but, then again, so were the rest of his friends. Clyde was super smart, like, off-the-charts smart. He wasn’t in any of Frank or Charlie’s classes because he was too smart for them. He had his own, private classes. Willie, on the other hand, was just a prankster. He was so good at organizing and building that his pranks never messed up, and he never got caught. Kevin was quiet and geeky, your typical nerd and computer wiz. He would probably be bullied a lot if he didn’t have the ability to talk his way out of it. And Corey was just Corey. He was probably the best looking of all of them, with the exception of maybe Charlie, and British, but he had one hell of a mouth on him, and when him and Willie teamed up, it was never a good thing. Corey was in and out of detention all the time.

Outside of his friends, his teachers were also weird. None of them acted, well, normal.

Frank’s home life was as normal as he could make it with 5 dogs. There was Pia Mei, Buttons, Lyra, Nova, and Marshall. Almost none of them were the same breed, either. They were, respectively, a Maltese, a Papillon, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and her son, and lastly a St. Bernard.

Frank also had this really weird neighbor that never left his house. His parents were perfect apple pie citizens, but their son just stayed in the window, which faced Frank’s own bedroom window, and just stared out it. It was quite creepy when he was there.

Frank was currently sitting in his bed with his music in working on his summer homework. The first day of school was, naturally, tomorrow. It was 10:00pm, according to his black Iphone with the black skull case he kept on it, and he still had about 2 hours of homework left. However, he ended up crashing at about 10:30.

 *-*-*-*-*

Frank’s alarm, “Welcome to the Black Parade”, woke him up at 6:00 the following morning, and he scrambled to do as much of the remaining homework as he could without missing the bus.

“Oh honey, hope you make lots of friends at school today!” Frank’s mom said as he tried to get the bus and she tried to fix his sloppy hair.

“So handsome!”

“Handsome”? He was emo, not handsome.

“Hello, Frank, it’s your first day of school!” The bus driver, Ronnie, told Frank as he climbed the bus. The guy was definitely on drugs, and probably a dealer.

 _Aw, Mom,_ Frank thought, _you know I’m not like the other kids. I’m weird, and my pants are too tight._

But that was okay, because Frank’s best friend Charlie watched out for their rag-tag, mismatched gang.

Charlie was already on the bus. Frank and him rode the same bus. Frank plopped down next to Charlie, who took up over half of the bus seat, but luckily Frank was small. Tall, but thin.

Frank tried undoing what his mother had tried to fix concerning his hair. He didn’t know why she was acting like that, who was there to make friends with senior year of high school?

Little did Frank know, he would make a very close friend this year.

*-*-*-*-*

When Frank got to school and got to his class, he knew that his life was going to continue to be stange. First of all, it was dark in here, with the shades drawn and the lights off. Second of all, Frank’s teacher...

Frank gave his teacher a once-over, because how could you not when her skirt was too short and her white button-up shirt was unbuttoned enough you could see her aqua-marine bra?

“Oh man, what a babe,” Charlie mumbled to Frank, then wolf-whistled as he walked by. Frank just rolled his eyes.

Frank took a seat in the back with most of the girls, while the boys stayed up front. Frank was starting to see the strategy. The guys who normally fool around in class were now up front paying attention. Well, not to the lesson, but still.

Willie came through the door, took one look at the teacher, said “Holy smokes” really loudly, and took a seat in the middle of the class. He wasn’t so much drawn to the teacher as wanted to actually learn stuff. For a kid who’s a borderline delinquent, he cared about his education and took it seriously, unlike most things.

By pure luck, Kevin and Corey were also in Frank’s class. Kevin wasn’t interested in anything the teacher had to offer besides lessons, trying his hardest to avoid looking at her while sitting down behind Willie, but Corey choose the desk right next to Charlie’s, right in the front row. Corey placed his boots up on the table, tilting the whole desk-and-chair contraption back onto the desk behind his. Corey honestly looked like he belonged in The Outsiders, the way he dressed. Frank was kind of bummed that no one had come to sit next to him, but he was fine with that. Well, more like he wouldn’t trade his seat for sitting with his friends. He was going to stay in the back where he could quietly draw or something to pass the time.

The teacher turned around and bent down to take a piece of chalk from the lip at the bottom of the board, her skirt coming up to show off things Frank could have gone his whole life without seeing, but did. He tried to concentrate on the fact that they still had a freaking chalk board.

Looking around he noticed he was the only guy in the back two rows. Well, that was great. Way to advertise how gay he was. Hells yeah. Gay as fuck.

Frank realized that he had actually tuned out most of what the teacher had been saying. He came to this realization when the teacher, who had wrote her name on the board Frank hadn’t even bothered to look at, came over and bent _very_ suggestively over his desk, giving him another view he really, really didn’t want to see.

“Excuse me, sir,” she said, playing with the word “sir” in her mouth like a bad porn movie, and revolting Frank. “Can you tell me why you aren’t paying attention to-” she slid her hands up the sides of Frank’s desk, sliding closer to him “-the lesson?”

 _Lesson, what lesson, she needs to get away from me like, now, like, yesterday, please_ , Frank thought rapidly.

“Uh-” he started, trying to think of a good way to get rid of her. He met Corey and Charlie’s eye’s behind her. He gave them a pleading look, which Corey seemed to pick up and Charlie did not.

“Hey, Miss, yo, over here. I have, like, a question.”

She gave Frank one last lingering look, knowing that this was really just a diversion, but she went along with it anyway.

Frank let out a great sigh.

“Sir, I expect to see you after class.”

Frank just groaned and slumped in his desk.

*-*-*-*-*

After the bell rang signaling the end of school, Frank sat slumped in his desk.

His friends shot him sympathetic glaces.

“We’ll meet you at your’s, later, okay?” Corey offered, nodding.

Frank nodded back, nervous about what was about to happen.

The teacher, Miss Sikorsky, ( _More like Miss Slut-Whorsey_ , Frank thought) locked the door behind the rest of her students. Frank gulped audibly.

“What’s your name, sugar?” She asked.

_Uggg I don’t feel good about this…_

“Frank.”

“Got a last name, Frank?”

“Iero.”

“Frank Iero. Cute name.”

She crept closer, sashaying towards Frank.

_This isn’t right, why is this happening?_

She leant on Frank’s desk like she had before, before moving around to sit on his desk, fingers brushing over the top.

_This isn’t happening, it can’t be…_

She turned so that she faced Frank and put her legs on either side of Frank’s, spreading them apart.

_Close your legs please and walk away, just walk away, please._

“So, Mr. Iero, care to explain why you were not paying attention to the lesson?”

“No, ma’am, I don’t.”

_Why did I say that? Fuck no, no, no…_

“No? Why Frankie, we might need to teach you some manners then.”

She slid off the desk so she was straddling Frank, pinning him to the chair and reaching out to take the bun out of her hair, shaking it out. Frank could feel himself trembling.

When she was done she slowly placed her hands on Frank’s knees, slowly, tantalizingly moving them up his legs, Frank could feel the friction of her nails on the material of his pants, but he didn’t want any.

Finally she reached the crotch of Frank’s pants, and she slowly ran her fingers over him. Frank squirmed but the touch was getting to him. He didn’t like how he was feeling about this. This wasn’t right. He was into boys. Not whore teachers.

When she could tell Frank was turning hard, she went to unbutton his pants. Her nimble fingers pulled down the zipper deftly, _of course they did, she had had lots of practice,_ Frank thought.

She unbuttoned the boxers he was wearing, and took him out, stroking him a bit. Frank was shedding tears now, trying so hard not to moan in pleasure.

“Why are you so reluctant with me, small one?”

Frank couldn’t reply.

“I think I want you to fuck me in my mouth sweetie, how does that sound? Does that sound pleasant?”

She slid off Frank’s lap to under his desk and that’s when he made his break for it, jumping up, running to the front of the room, where he buttoned his black skinny jeans, unlocked the door, and ran into the boy’s bathroom.

Frank let the tears flow as he jacked himself off, finishing what that whore had started. When he had come all over himself, he simply let himself slide against the wall and sobbed uncontrollably.

After an unknown length of time, there was a knock on the door, and a soft voice with a light, strange, natural accent asked “Hello? Are you okay in there?”

Frank was scared, but he was also still recovering, and he just sat there and sobbed.

Eventually the door was pushed open, and since Frank hadn’t bothered to go into a stall, he was spread out on the floor, his legs in plain sight and the rest of him if this stranger had bothered to turn his head around the wall, which he did.

“Oh my, what happened to you?” The stranger asked in shock. Frank didn’t look up at the man himself, but he could see him the mirror off to the side. He had to say the man was not what he was expecting. As if the black skinny jeans that matched his wasn’t weird enough with the black leather jacket and paint-covered shirt, the big, black, buckled boots that came up his thighs, which were near Frank, and the necklace with the key that swung down when he bent down to Frank were oddities that he wouldn’t expect anyone working here to wear. However, Frank should have learned by now, so he felt, that no one in his life was normal. The oddest features by far, however, about this man, were the eyes that were neither green nor brown that peaked out from under the curtain of bright, bright red hair this man had. Not natural red, either, no, this man looked like he had used about three boxes of red hair dye and an equal amount of bleach, besides his black roots.

Frank’s first impression of the man was that he was simply beautiful, but he felt like he couldn’t appreciate anything in the world right now but the cold, hard, bathroom floor and white walls.

“Come on, let me help you up,” he said, offering his hand, but Frank shrank away. The man instantly withdrew, and looked Frank up and down more.

“You weren’t… raped… were you?”

Frank just cried harder.

“Oh, oh God, oh no. Here, I won’t hurt you.”

The man sat on the floor, away from Frank, under the sinks.

“When you’re ready, clean yourself up and come with me, please.”

To his credit, the man waited with Frank for forty-five minutes while Frank slowly composed himself. The man didn’t say anything else to Frank, just sat with one leg out and the other leg held by his arms looking at the bathroom in thought.

When Frank finally decided to try and stand, the man twitched his head up to look at him, crawled out from under the sinks, and stretched.

“Clean yourself up, I’ll be waiting outside.”

Frank nodded at him and turned to the sinks to try and wash the dried cum off his clothes in the bathroom sinks.


	2. Patience

The man, staff member, whoever he was, was waiting outside the boy’s bathroom like he promised.

“Here, come to my office with me,” the man told Frank, making sure to keep his distance from Frank. Frank appreciated that. 

The man led Frank down a winding series of hallways he didn’t think he’s ever been down. There were a few hallways Frank had never had the need to tread down, and it seemed like these were some of them. The theme of the classes seemed to be art rooms and Sociology, Psychology, and Law and Civics classrooms. Finally, in it’s own little alcove, they came upon a bright red door that matched the man’s bright red hair. The sign next to the door said “Guidance Counselor”, but Frank couldn’t read the name underneath as the man quickly hurried him into his room.

The “office” was not what Frank was expecting. There were Christmas lights strung around the tops of the walls, and directly in front of Frank was a couch and a coffee table. There were shelves filled with books and games, and a little fridge nestled in the corner, also red, with a coffee machine on top and some mugs. 

The desk was tucked into the wall, and behind it was a collage of different comic book sketches. They were truly amazing. On the wall to Frank’s right, in front of the desk, there was a comfy armchair. To the left a chalk board took up most of the wall. There was also some serious paintings around the room, scattered to fill in blank spaces. The office was only a bit bigger than a closet, however.

Frank was halting in his tracks trying to take it all in. The man went to go sit behind his desk in his desk chair. “Have a seat,” he gestured to the couch.

Frank did so, moving around the coffee table to sit on the far edge of the couch, where he could get a better view of this beautiful man. Now that Frank had calmed down more, he could appreciate him, even though he still wanted nothing to do with him.

“So, are you willing to tell me your name?”

Frank just stared at him. 

“Could you write it out maybe?”

Frank nodded, and the man stuck a key in the filing cabinet drawer next to him, having to lean to put the key in the front of it, and his shirt ride up a bit, exposing a bit of his skin underneath, which was pretty pale. Frank couldn’t help staring it until a dull clang shocked him out of it and the man walked around his desk, which was really just a table, and left a small whiteboard and a black marker with an eraser on the cap on the coffee table, not handing it to Frank for fear of overstepping any boundaries, and returned to his desk while Frank picked up the whiteboard, putting it on his lap and using both hands to uncap his marker.

“So, name?”

Frank wrote on his whiteboard, “You lock up your white boards?” and turned it around so the man could read it. He chuckled at it. “Not my choice.”

Frank nodded, satisfied his joke had induced the mood he was hoping for and erased that, writing his name out on the whiteboard.

“Frank Lero?” he asked.

Frank shook my head and fixed his crappy “I”.

“Ah. Frank Iero.”

This time Frank nodded and erased his name, ready to respond to whatever came next.

“Nice to meet you Frank, I’m Gerard Way, though students are supposed to call me Mr Way. Don’t trouble if you forget to, just try to do it on the down-low if you choose to be informal.

“I’m here to talk to you about what I’m pretty sure just happened to you.”

“Rape?” Frank asked on the whiteboard.

“Yes, if that’s what happened. Was that what happened?”

Frank nodded.

“Can you tell me who?”

Frank wrote something on the whiteboard and showed it to Mr Way.

“Your teacher? Who’s your teacher?”

Frank hesitated. He didn’t want to be dragged up into anything serious, even though he understood that he was in something serious.

“You know I could just look it up if you don’t tell me, I just thought I’d extend the courtesy of you telling me yourself,” he told Frank, looking up through his red bangs at Frank, one hand up in the air while his elbow rested on the table.

Frank just shook his head. 

“Okay. I won’t do it now. You still have time to change your mind, if you want.”

Frank shrugged.

“Now what?” he wrote on the whiteboard.

“Do you want to stay for a little bit?”

“I have friends waiting,” Frank wrote.

“At least long enough to have a drink? Non-alcoholic, obviously.”

What harm could one drink do? Frank nodded. He still didn’t really want anything to do with the man though. He felt like perhaps if he stayed later now, he wouldn’t need to come back again.

“Want a soda? I have soda. I also have apple juice.”

“Apple juice? Why apple juice?” wrote Frank.

“I did a poll on Twitter, asking what the best kind of juice was. The first time apple juice beat orange and grape juice, and the second one I did I added cranberry juice, but apple juice still won, so it was obvious that was what I had to keep in stock in  my fridge. The grossest juice I ever drank was warm assed papaya juice in NYC at Grey’s Papaya. I’m like ‘This place is famous and had papaya in the name so I should probably order the papaya juice’. I was very wrong. I wanted to make sure that none of the students here had to go through what I did, so I asked what kind of juice would be good, because who needs warm assed gross juice when you already have to suffer school lunch?”

“Huh.” It was the first thing Frank had said out loud to Mr Way.

“He speaks!” Mr Way cheered. He simply radiated gay sass, and Frank was starting to like that about him. He was caring, however, as well, and Frank thought that he made a good guidance counselor. 

Frank gave a small chuckle.

“So what did you want, Frank?”

“Well, how could I refuse your apple juice now?” Frank asked, knowing he could have soda at home.

“True dat!” Mr Way laughed, handing him a bottle of juice. He seemed like a very talkative and happy person but with a secretive sassy side and a really caring side that Frank liked. Wait, he had already had that thought. Oh well, it was true. Frank was starting to relax around Mr Way and put what had happened to him to the back of his mind.

Frank realized he was really thirsty after the first sip, and nearly chugged the rest.

“Can I ask you an unprofessional question, Frank, before you leave?” Mr Way asked. Frank look at him and nodded, draining the last of the apple juice from his bottle.

“Are you gay?”

“Yeah,” Frank answered and tossed his empty bottle into the recycling bin by the door. A smile flickered on Mr Way’s face when Frank did, and Frank assumed not many kids bothered to recycle.

“Sorry to ask. Just curiosity. Feel free to ask me anything.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, and Frank?”

Frank stopped trying to walk through the door.

“Yeah?”

“I would like you to come back either this week or next week. Just so I can check up on how you’re doing. I do actually have a job to do here, as much as it doesn’t seem to be true.”

Oh. Frank hadn’t been planning on coming back.

“Okay, Mr Way.” 

Frank took his leave.


	3. The Outsiders

“Frank! What took you so long?” Charlie asked, bear-hugging him when he came through his front door. 

Frank’s friends were sat around his kitchen table, homework complete, and working on different things. Willie and Corey were designing a really intricate prank, and Kevin a new computer program, and Clyde was providing mathematical support for each. The TV was on to a sports program and Frank knew that Charlie must have been watching TV waiting for him.

“How was it?”

Frank blinked up at his best friend and lied “It was fine, she actually sent me to another staff member that I met, Mr Way, and I’m going to meet up with him again.”

“Is that the guy with the red hair? That guy is rad,” Corey called to Frank from the table.

“What are you in for?” Charlie asked. Frank think he might have thought that that phrase applied to more than just  prison, but now that Frank thought about it, detention was pretty comparable to prison.

“Just not getting turned on by her. Guess she never counted on having a gay guy in her class. That’s her own fault. She’s not respecting diversity.”

Charlie laughed, and Clyde said “Well, if anyone’s diverse, it’s us.”

It was at that moment Frank’s mom came in and jokingly chimed in “Haven’t you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door, no?”

“Sorry, mom,” all of them chorused.

“It’s fine, boys.”

Frank’s mom went into the kitchen and Frank and Charlie joined the table. Frank’s mom kept spare chairs lying around for whenever the boys showed up at the house. Frank and Charlie pulled up the remaining two.

The other four boys were leaning over Willie’s schematics; Kevin had finished the computer program he had wanted to do. 

“That Mr Way is pretty cute, huh, Frank?” Corey asked. Corey was pansexual, and one of the guys that cared more about dating. There was a very distinct order in who cared most and least: Corey was the most, as he dressed to impress with his 80s punk look. Charlie could have any girl in the school, but he wanted to find the right girl. He would try and see how it worked out with girls here and there, though. Willie, like Charlie, had girls on and off, but it was less so and they usually lasted longer. Frank came next, and he hadn’t ever dated anyone, but he’d definitely been interested in a few people. Kevin was meek and liked girls for their level of nerdiness, but he was afraid of dating anyone as of now. Clyde didn’t have time for a relationship, so he said.

“Yeah, I guess,” Frank shrugged. Corey would try and hook up any of them with anyone, even if it was a teacher. Frank wondered how things would go between him and Charlie over their teacher, Miss Sikorsky. It was obvious they both had the hots for her. Charlie was tough and kind, but he could be a bit slow sometimes, at least compare to Kevin, Clyde, and Willie. Corey was good looking, and he knew it, but he could have an over-inflated ego and his snide comments that were “jokes” often got him dirty looks.

They were the typical jock, trouble-maker, prankster, smart one, nerd, and emo stereotypes, but that’s how they all got along. The rest of the school called them “the Breakfast Club”, but Corey liked to think of them as the Outsiders, and like the modern-day version of Ponyboy’s gang. 

Frank’s mom put down the dog’s food bowls, yelled, “Release the hounds!” and opened the gate to let flow the tide of dogs.

“I bet you could make it with him,” Corey said after they had they had all turned their attention back to Willie’s plans.

“What? No way, man, and seriously it’s not like that.”

“I’ll be rooting for you.”

“Yeah, okay, whatever,” Frank said, dropping it.


	4. All The Small Things

Frank was not looking forward to facing his teacher Tuesday morning. He didn’t think she would do anything else, not because of any moral senses, but because Frank hadn’t given her a thrill. He had run and cried. How attractive. She would have better luck getting satisfaction from Charlie or Corey, or even Willie, if she was his type. Which she wasn’t.  _ Same, Willie _ , Frank thought to himself as he forced himself to climb on the bus. Honestly he felt like he was going to throw up he was so anxious, but he couldn’t think of an excuse to get him out of school for the rest of the year without telling the truth, so he had to just be a man and suck it up.

Ronnie smiled and tilted his cap at Frank, yelling “Hello, Frankie!” as he climbed on the bus and sat next to Charlie.

Frank put his head on Charlie’s shoulder, and Charlie looked at him, concerned, but just put his arm around Frank’s shoulders and let Frank lean on him. Frank ended up falling asleep on Charlie, and Charlie woke him up when they arrived to school.

The sky was overcast like Frank’s mood as he walked into the building. That meant it was even darker in the classroom than it had been yesterday, because Miss Sikorsky hadn’t turned on the lights or opened the shades today either.

Her outfit had only become mildly more PG, as her shirt wasn’t as transparent as it was yesterday, but her outfit was still alarming to say the least.

_ How can she even work here? How do they allow this? Not only does she dress like a slut, she sexually harasses her students!  _ However, Frank bet he was the only one that had considered it “harassment”. His mind jumped to when he should go see Mr Way.

He briefly wondered if he should tell Charlie about what had happened, but he didn’t quite feel like it, not right now at least.

The class rolled by without anything eventful happening between Miss Slut-Whoresy and Frank, however, he could see that she had turned up the flirting with the whole first two rows, which was, unsurprisingly, all boys.

The lunch bell rang, and after Frank and his friends had returned to their seats, the girl next to him, Jamia, leaned over to Frank and muttered “She disgusts me.”

Frank snigered and agreed with her, meaning it.

“You have no idea.”

“I hear she does things with the students...here, in her room,” the girl on Frank’s other side, Lindsey, butted in.

“Really?” Jamia asked.

“Yeah, I heard that she makes it a whole kinky thing too, like using the school supplies as toys and stuff.”

Frank felt like he was going to puke.

“I’m going to the bathroom, I don’t need to hear about that,” he rushed out, launching himself up off his desk, the one he almost got raped in-did get raped in-last afternoon.

He went to go into the bathroom, but felt lonely, and wanted to talk about it, hiding it on his friends was weighing on him, so instead he made his way to Mr Way’s room.

When he knocked on the door, the skinny artsy man opened the door and let him in, saying “Frank? What’s wrong? Did anything else happen? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, well, okay, Mr Way. I just wanted to talk,” Frank said, having a seat on the couch.

“Oh, okay, yeah, that’s fine. Would you like some apple juice?”

“Sure.”

Mr Way got up from where he had taken a seat behind his table-desk and went into the mini fridge, handing Frank a bottle of apple juice.

“What made you come see me now?” he asked.

“The girl next to me was talking about rumors about that teacher’s...habits...that I’ve experienced, but more.”

Mr Way nodded. “I probably should be honest with you, Frank, I’ve known what teacher you’re talking about from the start. I know what she does. Honestly, whatever you’ve heard is probably true. You’re probably the only one in recent years to ever think of it as rape, but no one has ever come to me about it, which means I could never make a case against her. You could, though, if you wanted, with my help.”

Mr Way had confirmed what Frank had thought earlier, than. About the other stuff, Frank wasn’t so sure.

The pause that had ensued lengthened, and Mr Way rushed out “You don’t have to, if you don’t want. And you don’t have to decide right now.” He looked almost sheepish.

Frank titled his head. “You want her out of here, too, don’t you?”

Mr Way nodded. “What she does is wrong.”

Frank nodded back. He agreed, but he didn’t know if he was ready to open up just yet. He looked at the clock above the door. There was only ten minutes left of school.

“You can stay here, if you want, for the rest of the day,” Mr Way offered, looking kind of hopeful.

“Do you not have a lot of company?” Frank asked.

“Haha, all the way down here? No. No one ever comes to visit me down here, I usually sit here by myself. On occasion kids come to talk things out, but they don’t come to just visit.”

Frank felt bad for Mr Way, and he didn’t want to go back to class, so he agreed.

Mr Way smiled at Frank and clapped his hands together. “Okay! What do you want to do? I have board games, and a chalkboard, and the mini whiteboards…”

“Um, I’m cool with a board game,” Frank said. He felt anything like pictionary or hang-man would be a little personal, and Frank didn’t really feel like getting psychoanalyzed or whatever Mr Way might do to him.

They started playing Trouble, but could only play for about five minutes until Frank had to leave in time to catch the bus.

He thanked Mr Way on his way up and recycled his apple juice container.

Mr Way couldn’t help but hope, after Frank had left, that this might become a usual thing.


	5. Give a Cheer for all the Broken

That night, after Frank had eaten dinner, he decided to do some research on rape statistics and facts. He didn’t like what he was reading. Apparently a lot of rape victims didn’t come forward about what had happened to them. Sometimes the stress of it could even land them in different anonymous and therapy groups. 

Frank really didn’t feel confident about coming forward with his case, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder if he could prevent anyone else from being in his shoes, or even be the first to come forward of those who were not as...consenting...as most males might be.

He decided to push off his decision until the morning. He would tell Mr Way as soon as he could about it.

*-*-*-*-*

When Frank woke up that morning, he felt kind of numb. He supposed he was going to take Mr Way’s offer. 

Frank got dressed and ready, just going through the old school routine numbly. He played “Welcome to the Black Parade” as he got dressed. He listened to the music and bands that meant a lot to him as he got dressed and ready for school.

When he got to school, he decided to go see Mr Way first thing.

When he knocked on the door, Mr Way simply said “The door is unlocked, Frank, come right in.”

“How did you know it was me?” Frank asked, closing the door behind him manually instead of letting it slowly swing shut on it’s own.

“Who else would be visiting me? Staff? Not so much. Students? Even less likely. No, Frank, it seems you are my only companion in this school that doesn’t need me to sign this or check up on that… anyway, now’s not the time for me to complain about my shit.”

“You can talk to me if you ever need, Mr Way,” Frank said, skipping to call out the fact that the staff member had just swore in front of him. 

He looked up at Frank and chuckled. “I don’t think that would be appropriate.”

Frank merely shrugged, not wanting to come between Mr Way and what he felt like his responsibilities of his career were. 

“So, have you made a decision, Frank?”

“Yeah, I’ll help.”

“That’s good of you. You have guts.”

“Thanks, Mr Way.”

Frank hadn’t moved from the doorway to sit down on the couch, but he didn’t move to go to class either.

“Is there anything else, Frank?”

Frank thought about how he felt about class. He really didn’t want to go. He was terrified. As if the thought of possibly being raped again wasn’t enough, the conversations and rumors that he heard were bad too. He had been repressing his feelings all morning but he felt like complete shit. The constant panic and stress was tiring and he hadn’t been sleeping right, and the weight of not telling his friends was crushing, to say the least, and so he couldn’t do anything to stop the tears that were running down his face. It was the first time he had cried about it since it had happened, but it was really traumatic.

Mr Way got up and hugged Frank, and Frank found himself hugging Mr Way back, and he didn’t know if this was allowed but he didn’t care. 

“Okay, I’ll call you out of class, it’s fine, you can stay here, Frank.” and Mr Way pulled away from Frank  to use the phone. Frank listened, trying to concentrate on the words he was saying.

“No, Frank just needs to fill out something. Yes, he’s fine.” Pause. “Well, I don’t know, it’s a few pages and we’ll have to talk it out.” Another pause. “It’s for a college thing. Yeah. He came to me thinking he might want to be a guidance counselor and he wants help with the application.” Another pause. “Yes, but can the office people give him a recommendation letter as a guidance counselor?” Yet another pause. “I think that is discrimination. Listen, it won’t be a problem right? Okay.” Mr Way hung up the phone in a huff.

“Really, a guy can be ‘emo’ and still end up being a guidance counselor. Obviously no one looked into my past.”

“You were emo?” Frank sniffed, able to reign in his emotions for the moment.

“Yeah, I guess I was.” He got up and unlocked one of the filing cabinets. He pulled out something and came over to sit on the couch where Frank had come to rest, and handed over some photos to Frank.

Frank saw men, with different looks, but all together, either on stage playing in a bad or just hanging out, sometimes posing for the photo. He could see Mr Way in each, sometimes with long black hair with either red or teal roots, and sometimes with shorter black hair, and even a crazy look where he had very short, totally white hair, and his face was painted like a skull.

“You were in a band?”

“Yeah. One hell of a good band too. We made it pretty big.”

“What was it called?”

“My Chemical Romance.”

Frank let the name run through his mind.  _ My Chemical Romance _ . It was very catchy.

“It’s a nice name,” he said finally.

Mr Way got up to grab Frank some apple juice from his fridge. “My brother named it, “ he said from inside his fridge. Frank looked over instinctively at Mr Way  as he was talking, and was met with an eyeful of Mr Way’s ass. Frank quickly looked back forward, his tear-covered cheeks heating up in a blush. Mr Way had a really nice ass. Like the best one Frank had ever seen. But Frank wasn’t going to say that.

Mr Way came out of his fridge holding the bottle, continuing his sentence. “He got it from a book he found in the bookstore he worked at.”

“What happened?” Frank asked.

“Well, our drummer and the rest of us had a fall out after our last album, and we felt like we couldn’t go on. It was a really tough decision to make for us. I didn’t really feel like I could talk to anyone about it, because normally I’d talk to Mikey about it, but he was going through the same thing, and I didn’t want to add to his stress. Some stuff happened, and eventually I wound up being a high school guidance counselor, hoping to be the person I never had for someone else.” Frank couldn’t help but feel like he was that “someone else”.

Mr Way had been staring at his bright red door as he was talking, but when he finished he looked to Frank.

“But enough about me for now, what about you? You’re pretty ‘emo’, if I can say that as one former-emo to another current emo without being offensive. What’s your favorite song?”

Frank answered immediately. “ ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ by Panic! At the Fall Out Disco.”

“Can’t say as I’ve ever heard it, but I’ll give it a listen. What even are the emo bands today?”

“Blink-day, Pierce the Sirens, Bring Me the Black Veiled Brides, All Time Paramore, We the Romans, A May Day to Remember, Thirty Seconds to Sum-41, and a few others,” Frank counted off on his fingers. “ ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ is my alarm in the morning. A few other good ones by them are ‘Thnx Fr Th Sns, Nt Trgds’, ‘Dancing is the Most Fun a Girl can Have’, ‘But it’s Better if You Hum Hallelujah’, and a lot more. They have a lot of albums too, like, ten,” Frank said, going back to the subject of his favorite band.

“Well, you’ll have to write me up a list sometime. Or, better yet, make me a  playlist,” Mr Way told Frank. Frank nodded at the idea. 

“Sure, no problem, I have some friends that could show me how,” Frank said excitedly. Mr Way was loving the way that Frank was so enthusiastic about sharing his music interests with him, and he wanted to learn more about Frank. Mr Way didn’t know many students, but he knew that a lot weren’t polite from what he’d witnessed. He’d seen Frank before in the halls, in previous years, how could he not? He was the only kid in the whole school that had his sense of dress, and his other friends were quite the collection if ever he had seen one. He got the feeling that Frank had never seen him before, though, the way Frank had looked at him when he found him crying in the bathroom two day ago.  _ Two days ago? _ Mr Way thought. It had only been two days, but already he felt a connection of friendship with this kid. He saw a bit of his younger self in Frank, the way Frank dressed and a little bit in the way he acted. Mr Way had grown up with the kids that he had formed a band with, and he had left them behind a while ago. All of them but his brother Mikey.

“That’s great,” Mr Way said, at a loss of how to continue the current topic of conversation.

“Would you be upset if I listened to your band?” Frank asked.

“Not at all, go ahead. I’m still proud of the work we did, even if we fell out in the end.”

“Did you fall out with all of them?”

“No, Ray, our guitarist, and I got along fine, we just lost touch, and Mikey, my brother, and I are still in touch, we just aren’t as close as we used to be.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Frank said after finishing a sip of his apple juice and putting the cap back on.

“No matter.” Mr Way responded. As an afterthought, he added “You and your friends seem close. An odd mix, but close.”

“That’s what everyone says,” Frank said. He brought up how they were called the Breakfast Club, and how Corey would have rather been called the Outsiders.

“That seems pretty accurate, calling you the Breakfast Club, but, having seen and read the Outsiders, I think your friend Corey is right that that is also an accurate analogy to you guys. The Outsiders are all different, too, each of them is very defined, but they are constantly together, unlike the Breakfast Club, who only meet for that one day, that the movie shows at least. Also, the Outsiders are all boys. Perhaps you fit into the stereotypes of the Breakfast Club easier, but it’s just a surface analysis.”

Frank listened intently to what Mr Way said and he agreed. Of course, he had thought something along the similar lines the whole time; he had seen both movies, he had seen a number of 80s movies, they all had, indulging Corey’s interests. All his friends could recognize the significant opening G note of “Welcome to the Black Parade”, and they all knew the rules to the most popular sports as Charlie had taught them, and so on.

Mr Way looked at the clock. Frank had been in here for a good fifteen minutes. 

“You should probably go back to class now, Frank.” Mr Way informed him.

Frank nodded glumly.

“I don’t want to say that it’s not going to suck, but try to have a positive outlook. No, that’s just dumb…” Mr Way was trying to find the right words to say. “Think about what songs you’re going to put on that mix for me,” he said, thinking about how happy Frank had looked when Mr Way had suggested it. 

Frank nodded, noticing he hadn’t finished his apple juice.

He stood up and Mr Way followed suit. 

“If you need to come back, feel free to. Your friends are always welcome, too. Just to hang out.”

“Sure, maybe at lunch someday we will,” Frank smiled sadly.

The goodbye felt deep, as if Mr Way was sending Frank off to join the service. It felt just as grim to both of them. Mr Way was sending Frank back to the person who had raped him, because Frank couldn’t afford to miss class, and his parents couldn’t homeschool him, and even if they could, it would raise a lot of questions. Mr Way couldn’t just call and accuse a teacher of that with only Frank’s word to go on. Other schools, maybe, but the majority of staff members didn’t care.

As Frank walked down the halls, he felt like Mr Way was the only color that mattered in this place. He was the bright red that stood out from the black and white that was the rest of the school. As Frank handed the pass that Mr Way had wrote him to his horrible teacher, he felt like some of the brightness might rub off on him, and he kept it with him for the rest of the day by taking his guidance counselor's advice and thinking about the music he wanted to share with him.


	6. Lunch Dates

“Hey, how would you feel about maybe eating lunch in Mr Way’s office today, instead of the cafeteria?”

“Why?” Charlie asked, adjusting the strap on his backpack while it sat on his lap.

They were sitting on the bus together and the morning light was shining in the windows of the bus, casting a glow over them.

“He offered. He doesn’t get a lot of company down there, so he gets lonely.”

“Is that why you’ve been going down there?”

“Yeah. I enjoy his company.”

“Is that all you enjoy?” He asked, shooting Frank a sideways glance. Sometimes Charlie could be thick, but things like that he could pick up on. Hell, all of Frank’s friends besides Clyde, who wasn’t in their class, had noticed Frank’s absence in the presence of Mr Way, and even Clyde had jumped to that conclusion from what the others had told him.

“What are you getting at?” Frank tried in vain to hide the obvious conclusion.

“I hear he has a great ass.”

Frank’s cheeks heated up from that. “From who?” he demanded, sounding very territorial to Charlie.

“Some girls that have seen him in the hall. They always say hi to him. You know how annoying it is to try and sweet-talk a girl and all she does is talk about other guys, even the freaking guidance counselor? I mean, what’s so great about the guy?”

Frank could definitely make a list of reasons, but it wasn’t like that. Frank just really enjoyed the guy’s company. Just because he had asked Frank to make him a mixtape didn’t mean anything. Asking someone to make a mixtape for them doesn’t mean anything. Besides, even if Frank did like Mr Way, which he didn’t at the moment, Mr Way wasn’t going to like a kid like Frank. Because that’s what Frank was at the moment: he was 17 going on 18 years of age. Coming up on Halloween, if one could believe it. How emo.

“I just like him, is all,” Frank said.

“Exactly, you like him.”

Now Frank was starting to get annoyed at his friend.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

“Okay, but I want to hear what the others have to say about lunch first.”

“Okay. He just invited you guys if you wanted to come.”

“We’ll see.”

The two boys spent the rest of the bus ride in silence.

Frank used his spare time before he had to get to class to visit Mr Way quickly and tell him what Charlie had said about coming to lunch, leaving out the part about his strictly-platonic feelings about Mr Way.

When school was going to start in 2 minutes, Frank left Mr Way with a wave.

Frank walked in and took his seat in the back row. After a few minutes the girl in front of him placed a folded half-sheet of lined notebook paper on his desk. He raised his head from where he had been listening to Miss Sikorsky while daydreaming on his own and doing stupid little sketches on a paper.

“It’s been agreed upon to have lunch with you and Way, but, as a side note from me, you might want to keep an eye that Corey doesn’t try and steal your man.

-Kevin”

Well, that was nice, but the part about Corey didn’t need to be in there. Did it? Frank certainly didn’t like the idea of Corey flirting with Mr Way. Should he talk to Corey about it before hand?

Before he could decide, which was about three hours of class later, the bell for lunch rang. 

Corey ended up coming to Frank, with Willie and Charlie in tow. “We’re going to go get Clyde in the cafeteria when we get our food. And maybe while we’re here, we can help this bromance along.”

“It’s only been four days, guys.”

Corey put an arm around Frank and steered him towards the cafeteria, all his friends but Clyde behind him.

“Frank, my dear brother. love waits for no man.”

Frank rolled his eyes, but let Corey continue directing him towards the lunch line. “Mr Way has soda,” Frank informed his friends, and they were happy about not having to get school milk without paying extra. In fact, they would pay less without the milk.

The school lunch was sketchy tacos, but without a good alternative, all the boys got their tacos and waited for Clyde, who shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose with the hand that wasn’t holding his tray, and Charlie signed all of them out, having to quietly ask Willie for the time because it was a struggle for Charlie to read clocks with hands to show the time.

They made their way down the twisting hallways to reach Mr Way’s office. Frank had come to notice that the halls got darker the further away from the middle of the school they got, and every time he came to Mr Way’s office, it was very dark, the entrance being set in the alcove that it was. 

He gave the door a light knock, and Mr Way called him in, with his strangely accented voice.

“Hey, you’ll have to introduce me to your friends, Frank,” Mr Way told him, tilting back his chair as Frank grabbed a seat on the couch. The small couch was able to fit him and Charlie, with Corey and Willie on either arm, and Clyde and Kevin smushing in the arm chair. When everyone was settled as well as they could be, Frank introduced them all.

His friends gave subtle glances between Frank and Mr Way, Corey and Charlie the most, wanting to see Frank and Mr Way’s relationship first hand and make their own conclusions. 

The discussion mirrored each of the boy’s interests as Mr Way asked them to tell him about themselves, besides Frank of course. Frank and Mr Way didn’t talk much at first while this was going on, but once Mr Way had gotten to know each boy a bit, and they understood him a bit, he and Frank talked more. Frank’s friends really wanted to see how they interacted. 

Frank told Mr Way what they were learning about at the moment, and Mr Way listened to him, and Mr Way told them about his favorite subject in school, art, and how he had gone to school to be a comic book artist. He ended up telling them how 9/11 had made him decide that he should start a band to try and help people, and then talked about how the band had ended. It was obvious that Mr Way was into comic art from the wall of sketches he had behind him. 

Mr Way talked about the comic book series he had published and it sounded really good. Kevin was the most interested in it, being a comic book fan, but Frank was right behind him in interest. 

Finally the lunch block came to an end, and the boys were forced to return their trays back to the cafeteria. From that one meeting, all of Frank’s friends decided that Frank and Mr Way needed to be a couple. They were joking about it, but Frank felt like there was still a grain of truth to what they were saying. All that was needed to burn down the world was a single, unchecked spark.


	7. Both Eyes Forward

 

“Okay, we need a plan,” Mr Way said, cleaning off the chalk board like he was actually going to draw up a plan like Willie would. Maybe they should ask Willie for advice. If anyone could think up a plan of action, it was Willie. It didn’t just have to be physical traps and such, Willie was good at planning out sequences of events. Willie could probably figure out how to break in anywhere if he really put his mind to it. Couple that with Kevin’s tech skills and Clyde’s brain…

Frank felt himself getting off topic, and decided to leave Willie out of it if he could help it, but he did mention to Mr Way Willie’s talents.

“He uses his tricks for cheap pranks. He’s not into cheating or snooping in the girl’s locker room and such. But he could if he wanted.”

“Good to know. If you trust your friends, then so do I,” Mr Way said over his shoulder, pausing from writing “Plan” on the board with his pastel pink chalk.

“So, we need evidence.”

“That would mean her raping someone else,” Frank muttered quietly.

“This is true, but as we’ve mentioned before, most other boy’s wouldn’t view it as rape. Still, maybe we can get one of them to do something about it, you know, be the, well, not “bait”, but, you know, speak up when she takes interest in them.”

“Okay.”

“So, I want you to keep an eye on who she seems to take an interest in. That means actually paying attention, Frank.”

“I do pay attention!”

“Yes, but from what you’ve told me you just keep your head down-literally-and I need you to pick it up and be observant. Get your classmates to help too! Nothing is easier to pass around like a little gossip.”

“Okay, fine, I will.” Frank pouted at Mr Way.

“Cute, now get back to class, Frank.”

Mr Way wrote him out a pass, asking Frank for the time from behind his desk, and Frank glanced up at the clock and responded while recycling his bottle of apple juice. 

“You really think I’m cute?” Frank asked, taking the yellow slip from Mr Way.

“Don’t push it, kiddo,” Mr Way chirped, adding “kiddo” to try and convince himself that he thought Frank was cute in a kid way. However, he wasn’t so sure.

Frank strutted out the door, however, confident he was making  _ some _ sort of impact, and when he got past the alcove into the hallway, he let the huge grin shine on his face at being called “cute” by Mr Way.

*-*-*-*-*

Frank sat up for the first time in class, well, ever. It boosted his spirit that today was Friday. However, on the flipside, anything he came up with he would have to wait to tell Mr Way. Unless he came up with something today, or stayed after school. That could work, Frank thought. 

He kept his eyes on Miss Sikorsky, though, the sight of her made him sick to his stomach. He watched where she aimed her eyes and at whom she directed her flirtatious smiles towards. Just to keep himself somewhat occupied while doing this, he made note of what kids got how many looks or flirtatious gestures, and asked Jamia and Lindsey to do the same, making a game out of it while having someone else to compare his notes to. 

At the end of the class, Jamia and Lindsey passed their papers to him, and he looked at them. They had many more marks down than he did, but they all had one thing in common: the person with the second most marks on each paper was Corey, and the person with the most marks was always Charlie.


	8. What Doesn't Kill You Leaves You Broken Inside

“Charlie and Corey, you say, huh? I’m not surprised,” Mr Way said, pacing his small office while Frank was curled up on the couch. 

“What do you mean?” Frank demanded, starting to use his hands to push himself up from the ball he had curled himself in due to worry over what might happen to his friends.

“Not like that, I just meant, well, you know, they are both good, young men,” Mr Way had backed himself into a corner and there was only one way to get out. “Not like you, Frank. You know I like you the best.”

Frank, satisfied, curled back into a ball on the couch, letting tears fall on the soft, synthetic fabric.

Frank sniffed and moved enough that he could take out his earbuds and phone out of his pocket and put music in. It calmed him down, the electric guitars and screaming that were like lullabies to him.

“Do you think they would be willing to make anything happen? And do you think they would be willing to tell?”

“I really don’t know. A broad like that-” Frank spat out the word “broad”- “would be a major score for either of them. But if they knew what she did to me...but they might not understand…”

Mr Way sat down by Frank. Frank kept his eyes fixated on Mr Way’s table.

“Frank… do you think you can tell your friends what happened?”

Frank didn’t respond.

“I’m not pressuring you to, but I think it might be easier that way. If you can’t it’s fine… but if you decide to, come here. It will make it easier for you.”

Frank nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

“Okay, Frank,” Mr Way stood up, “It’s all I can ask of you.”

Mr Way sat down in his desk chair, moving a strand of bright red hair that fell in his face often. It was more sombre, this time, somehow.

“You can stay for a little longer, Frank, if you want, but I’m afraid you’ll have to be gone within the next two hours.”

Frank emerged from his ball and sat up on the couch, using a fist wrapped in his tattered black sweatshirt to wipe his tears away, and placed either hand, still wrapped in ripped sleeves on either side of him, getting a grip on himself. His hair was sticking up in the back, and he looked rather rattled, but Mr Way was trying hard not to stare at him.

“No, it’s fine, I can go now.”

Frank kept his music in as packed up his things. He hadn’t drunk any apple juice, so he had no bottle to recycle, but in a gesture of kindness, Mr Way got up, going to the fridge, and took one out, handing it to Frank for the walk home.


	9. Hey Monday

Frank simply couldn’t tell his friends. They would think that he was over-reacting, at least, Charlie and Corey would. They didn’t understand the concept of  _ not _ wanting sex. Clyde and Kevin probably wouldn’t be able to change Corey and Charlie’s minds, but they would understand Frank. Willie was a toss-up, but Frank was willing to bet he would understand, and if it was coming from all of them, maybe Charlie and Corey would listen. Frank just wasn’t sure though. He knew his friends were good people, and if he was honest with himself, they probably would understand, but Frank was just too insecure to tell them that he had been raped. He hadn’t told anyone, but he felt dirty. He knew his friends wouldn’t look down at him, but they would treat him differently. Broken. But he was broken. He just didn’t want to admit that to anyone else but himself and Mr Way.

Monday morning, Frank rolled out of bed and turned off “Welcome to the Black Parade”, reminding himself that he had to make that mixed tape for Mr. Way. He pulled on a Blink-Day pullover, with the smiley face in a circle of dripping paint and the very block-like X’s for eyes that were reflected in the font of the band title. He pulled on his favorite pair of black, ripped skinny jeans and admired himself in the mirror.

Frank took his usual seat in class, not needing to see Mr Way first thing today. Jamia and Lindsey struck up a conversation between the three of them before class started, and then gave their attention to Miss Sikorsky (“Miss Slut-Whorsey”, as Frank had now gotten Jamia and Lindsey to call her) starting the lesson. Besides the fact that they still had freaking chalk boards, another thing that Frank didn’t like about his school was that they didn’t rotate classes. What kind of high school didn’t have electives? His, obviously. The bell ringing only signified the start of school, lunch, and the end of the day. There were simply “recommended times” to switch subjects. The reasoning for this was that this way teachers were “educated to teach all subjects”, and that “sometimes one subject needs more time spent on that others, depending on the day”. The student’s counter arguments were “what happens when we fall asleep because we stay in the same desk for three hours straight twice a day?”

Frank could have fallen asleep Miss Sikorsky was so boring, but he was too busy watching her interact with his friends. Frank couldn’t hear what Charlie or Corey were saying when they answered her questions, but whatever they said she found quite interesting, at least, that’s what Frank assumed from the way she bent over their desks, giving them a great view.

When the bell rang, Frank jumped up, grateful to get out of there. Charlie went to stand up, but Miss Sikorsky put her hand on his shoulders and pushed him back in his chair. She said something, and Charlie tensed up, and when Frank made his way to the front of the class, he heard Miss Sikorsky tell Charlie that he had to stay for lunch, and Charlie looked happier than ever, but nervous.

*-*-*-*

Frank scarfed down his lunch and waited at the cafeteria, ignoring his friend’s conversation, looking at the clock and waiting for it to ring instead.

Frank scampered down the hallway and flung the door to his classroom open. Miss Sikorsky was behind her desk, and Charlie was still in his seat, however, the air between them was charged with a…  _ a chemical romance _ , Frank thought, wondering why that phrase in particular had struck him. Right, of course, Mr Way’s band had been named My Chemical Romance.

Frank walked back to his seat, and as he did so, he heard Miss Sikorsky tell Charlie that he should probably stay after school tomorrow, and Charlie stuttered out an agreement. He turned around in his seat to face Frank and gave him a crazy grin.

_ No, no, noooo, _ Frank thought. He didn’t want to lose the Charlie he knew and loved to some stupid afterschool special.

Frank didn’t see any other choice now: he was going to have to tell his friends.


	10. Listen Here, Because it's Who We Are

“Yeah, I’m cool with chilling in Mr Way’s room for lunch, you know, as long as Miss Sikorsky doesn’t need me for anything,” Charlie grinned when Frank asked him as soon as he could. 

“Even if she does, I’m asking you just this once, to put aside whatever else might come up.”

“Does this have anything to do with why you’ve been withdrawn recently?”

Frank thought he had done a good job about acting normal, but he guessed not well enough.

“Yeah, just, come with me, okay? And tell the others.”

*-*-*-*-*

Frank grabbed his lunch feeling queasy, and by the time they had all filed into Mr Way’s small office, taking up the same positions they had the last time they were in there.

“So, Frank, what’s this all about now?” Willie asked.

Frank was trembling, so he put his tray on the coffee table instead of his lap in case he spilled anything.

“Give him some time, boys. He might not be ready to say it yet,” Mr Way told them, just to fill the space. He knew Frank’s friends would give him all the time he needed.

“No, it’s fine. I-I can t-tell them,” Frank choked out, already tearing up.

Through many tears, he recounted the event that had haunted his dreams and led him to end up here and now, in this small, colorfully lit room sitting here, explaining just that.

His friends stayed silent throughout the whole thing, and for a good while after Frank had finished.

Mr Way then explained their purpose, and how Charlie or Corey could play a vital role in the part.

“You are staying after school with her today, are you not, Charlie?” Mr Way asked.

“Well, yeah,” Charlie answered.

“Do you think you could get any proof of what she does to her students? Proof that Frank couldn’t get?”

“I could try,” Charlie said hesitantly.

Just then, the bell for class rang.

“I’ll return your trays to the cafeteria, just hurry along to class,” Mr Way told the boys. He didn’t even have to tell Frank to stay. He knew Frank wouldn’t go to class looking like he did.

Mr Way got up when all of Frank’s friends had left, and grabbed his box of tissues, passing them to Frank.

Frank took one and blew his nose, aiming the used tissue towards the garbage can, and making it because it was only about a four foot shot.

“He’s not going to,” Frank said.

“How do you know?” Mr Way asked, even though he was thinking the same thing.

“Charlie’s too enthralled with her. He doesn’t want to get her fired.”

“Yeah.” Mr Way placed a hand on his hip, cocking it out as he shifted his weight.

“We could always just get the proof ourselves,” Frank muttered, “But Charlie wouldn’t ever trust me again.”

“I wasn’t even suggesting it. There are other ways to do this without ruining your friendship.”

“Yeah.”

They paused for a moment, and Mr Way used it to come and sit beside Frank.

“I’m sorry this isn’t as easy as it could be. It really is a shitty school. I only stay to try and make a difference.”

Frank looked up at him. “You do make a difference.”

Mr Way smiled and offered Frank his hand to get up, pulling Frank up after him, but they found that they didn’t let go until Mr Way coughed out “I think you should head back to class Frank.”

Frank nodded and threw away the tissue his other hand had been holding. Before leaving, Mr Way told Frank he should return after school. Frank nodded; he had been planning on doing so.

*-*-*-*-*

When the bell rang, Frank filed out with the rest of the class, turning right instead of left, however, while Charlie stayed behind.

Frank made his way down the increasingly dark halls into Mr Way’s brightly lit office. He lamented the lack of a window in this office before sitting down on the couch. Mr Way was typing away at his laptop and finished up whatever he was doing before turning to Frank.

“Why’d you ask me to stay?” Frank asked.

“I figured you wouldn’t have a problem with it,” Mr Way said.

“I don’t.”

“Okay. I just didn’t know how you would feel, knowing what is happening right now.”

“Yeah. I do feel a little queasy, but I always do,” Frank admitted.

“Want to play a board game? We never did get to finish that game of Trouble. I think all the pieces are in the same place if you want me to break it out,” Mr Way offered. 

“Sure,” Frank responded, but he got it instead, leaving Mr Way to get the two of them a bottle of apple juice each.

“Ha, a six, in your face Mr Way!” Frank laughed, and Mr Way laughed along at him, surprised Frank would talk to a staff member like that. However, they were more like really good friends.

The game progressed and it became evident that if Frank rolled a four, he would win, while Mr Way was still making his way around the board with two pieces. Finally, Frank rolled a four and won. Mr Way pretended to be really hurt about his defeat.

“You cheated, you must have, no one had beaten me in  _ years _ !”

“I guess I’m just that good!”

Mr Way pouted dramatically and turned his head away from Frank, red hair flying.

“I’m not talking to you anymore.”

Frank grabbed Mr Way’s shoulders and leaned over him, forgetting where he was and what their positions in this relationship were for a moment. 

“Aw.”

And for a moment, the teacher/student line was severed, adult and child line forgotten, and Mr Way tilted his face up to Frank and Frank tilted his face down to Mr Way’s and all of a sudden the room was devoid of any sound as the spark of a kiss lasted.


	11. Boy Division

“Frank, I love her, man, you gotta understand,” Charlie whispered to him on the bus. “I don’t want her to get fired.”

“Charlie, it’s  _ wrong _ .”

“Oh, yeah, because what you and Mr Way have going is so right.”

“What? Charlie, there isn’t anything between Mr Way and I!” At least, there wasn’t until yesterday afternoon.

“Really? I doubt that.”

“It doesn’t matter, Charlie, but Miss Sikorsky  _ raped _ me.”

“She didn’t rape you, Frank, you just didn’t like what she was doing, so now she’s moving onto me.”

Frank recoiled from Charlie in shock. Thank god they were at school, Frank thought, because the first thing he did was run off the bus, pushing everyone else behind him and sprinted down the hall to Mr Way’s office.

He didn’t bother to knock, just ran in crying.

Mr Way had been sipping coffee but he spluttered on it, dropping his cup more so than setting it down, causing the spoon to clank against it as he leaned forward from where he had been reclining in his desk chair.

“Frank, what’s wrong?” He asked rushing over to where Frank had collapsed on the couch.

Frank buried his face into the couch, spreading out over it and letting on hand fall and brush the floor.

Mr Way picked up Frank’s legs gingerly and placed them on his lap, and rubbed Frank’s back, trying to sooth him as he cried. Mr Way didn’t say anything, he just let Frank know he was there. Frank continued to cry, and Mr Way felt the need to protect him. He really had come to care for Frank, and he found it surprising that since had been raped by a teacher, Frank was also drawn to him. 

There was a knock on the door, and Mr Way lept up, knocking Frank’s legs off him. Frank stopped sobbing momentarily long enough for Mr Way to ask who was there and get a response, but when he opened the door, Frank turned away, not even bothering to check who it was. He knew Mr Way wouldn’t let anyone in Frank couldn’t trust.

True to Frank’s instincts, it was Corey, Willie, and Kevin that entered the tiny room.

All three boys rushed to Frank’s side, torn to see him have this much hurt in such a short span of two days.

Mr Way returned to his desk, looking at the three boys that had taken his job of comforting Frank with a mix of despondence and spite. Finally, Corey looked over his shoulder, and said in his faintly British accent “Come on, you’re his boyfriend or something, yeah? Get your ass over here and comfort him too.”

Mr Way didn’t see any harm in opening up to Frank’s friends, so when he got up, he said “I was, until you three  _ barged in _ .”

“ ‘Barged in’? I’ve never ‘ _ barged in _ ’ anywhere’s in my life!” Kevin exclaimed as Corey, Willie, and him backed up, letting Mr Way in.

Frank sat up, moving his legs for Mr Way to sit down. Frank then flopped on Mr Way, burying his face into him.

“Fair question,” Mr Way asked the room, ignoring Kevin, “are we, in fact, boyfriends?” 

Frank started to nod, but then realized he hadn’t actually consulted Mr Way on the matter, so he shrugged instead.

“Would you like to be?” Mr Way rephrased.

Frank nodded to this, and Mr Way kissed the top of his head.

“Okay, then we are.”

Frank sat up looking at Mr Way teary-eyed, and then looked around at his friends.

“We’re okay with it, mate, as long he doesn’t hurt you,” Corey said.

“Yes, we’re fine with it. What we aren’t fine with is Charlie hooking up with someone who hurt you, and he told us what he said on the bus. He’s sorry about it, but he doesn’t seem to want to change his mind about this relationship, if you could call it that, that he’s in. He thinks he’s in love. He’s not in love. He’s… what’s the word?”

“Infatuated?” Kevin suggested.

“Yeah, he’s infatuated. You two, on the other hand,” Willie gestured at Mr Way and Frank in his lap, “well, I think you two might be in love, or you’ll be there sometime. Anyway, we want to help out, so I’ve come up with a plan.”

Frank smiled at his friends.

“Thanks.”

*-*-*-*-*

“Listen, Sugar, word on the street is that you know how to make a guy feel right, and I think I could use a bit of that, but don’t worry, I’ll pay you back in kind,” Corey growled quietly as Miss Sikorsky at her desk. She said something back to him, and Corey turned around, an exasperated look on his face.

Frank had to hand it to Corey, he hadn’t heard a word of their exchange, and if Frank hadn’t known any better, it would seem like Corey had just been sentenced to detention.

Charlie came back from the lunch room, and asked, audible to everyone, if he should stay after school with Miss Sikorsky.

“I’m sorry, baby, but it seems as if I’m going to have to punish your friend here for being a bad boy. He’s got quite the mouth on him.”

“At least I say shit about people instead of eating it!” Corey yelled angrily.

He earned a glare from Miss Sikorsky, which turned into a wink after Charlie had turned to get into his seat. Frank scoffed in the back. Of course that bitch couldn’t be faithful, that was what they were out to show.

Frank put to fruit the second part of the plan, writing out a note to Charlie.

“Hey buddy, I’m sorry about this morning. I’ve been overreacting about this whole situation, you were right. Make up? Stay with me after school? I want to talk things out with you and Miss Sikorsky and drop this plan Mr Way and I have.”

He passed it up where it reached Charlie.

Charlie looked back at him when he had read it and wrote out a response.

In time, the note had been passed back to Frank and he opened it.

“Are you still going to be seeing him? And Miss Sikorsky doesn’t want me to stay after.”

“Yeah. You have the same right to be in a relationship with a teacher as I do. Besides, Miss Sikorsky is just saying no because she doesn’t want you to see her rat out one of your friends, though the way Corey was talking to her, he deserves whatever he has coming.”

The note made its way up and back.

“Yeah, what is he even mad about?”

“Something about her choosing you over him.”

“Oh. Well, if you really want to make up, I’m open to it.”

“Thanks man, I knew you’d understand.”

Charlie crumpled the note up and threw it in the trash on his way towards the door as the bell rang. Charlie wasn’t the best at remembering what was recyclable and what wasn’t.

Frank met him at the door, really hoping she would forget to lock it after.

“Let’s give her a minuet to rat on Corey before we ask to see her. How about a trip round the halls, to talk?”

“Okay,” Charlie said.

Willie had recorded how long it took Charlie to walk around the school, and they were only a few seconds off of his calculations coming back to the classroom. On the way they had just gone over what they had said in the note earlier.

“Okay, let’s go in,” Frank said, and when they opened the door, which she thankfully  _ had  _ forgotten to lock, they found Miss Sikorsky with her fist wrapped in Corey’s shirt, holding him close to her face over her desk as she kissed him and Corey tried to pull away.

“St-stop! I do-don’t like it!” Finally Corey managed to pull away and he faced Frank and Charlie in the door.

Charlie was dumbfounded. Frank almost felt bad for him, as he had truly believed that he was special in regards to who Miss Sikorsky had chosen to fool around with. He thought he was the only one, but everyone else knew differently. Charlie just hadn’t been able to see that until now. 

“Charlie!” she called, but Charlie just stormed out. Corey and Frank followed him out.

“Charlie, wait-” Corey called.

They stopped trying to chase Charlie, figuring he would walk to Frank’s house or something.

“Did you get the picture?” Corey panted.

“Yeah,” Frank panted back, holding up his phone, whose screen had gone dark, to show Corey. Frank had taken the photo right when they walked in like Willie had told him to. It was the proof he needed to back up his, and now Corey’s, claim. 

“Great!” Corey clapped a hand on Frank’s shoulder. “I’m going to go chase after Charlie! Get that to Mr Way ASAP!” and he ran towards the main doors of the school.

Frank ran down to Mr Way’s room for the second time that day, and knocked feverently.

Mr Way opened the door on the phone, the cord stretched almost to it’s full length, the curls quite spread out, and waved Frank in.

“Yeah, okay, listen, I’m going to have to go Mikey. Yeah, my boyfriend is here. Sure I’ll tell him you said hi, he says hi back, he waved. Bye, love you too Mikes.”

Mr Way hung up the phone.

“Did you get it?”

Frank beamed at Mr Way and ran into hug him, and Mr Way picked him up, spinning him around as much as he could in the small space.


	12. Rebel Love Song

The next morning, Miss Sikorsky was called down to the office, and that was the last any of the students ever saw of her.

All of Frank’s friends knew what had happened, and they had even let Charlie in on the plan. He had been bitter about it for the night, but when Thursday morning rolled around, he wasn’t angry anymore. He really was sorry, and said that he had looked up rape statistics like Frank had, and he no longer believed that Frank hadn’t been raped.

Jamia and Lindsey insisted they knew that Frank had had something to do with Miss Sikorsky’s absence, but Frank never let them in on it.

Their sub for the day actually taught them something they picked up on, which was a first for the year. All the kids found themselves paying attention to the lesson itself, instead of what the person teaching them was wearing, or ignoring them.

Things were looking up for everyone. Everyone, that is, but Mr Way.

Frank found Mr Way after school with a bottle of unopened beer on his desk, and it was a frightening scene.

Mr Way was staring off at nothing, lost in his own worry, and Frank had to lean into his face to get his attention. Frank almost kissed him-what would have been their second kiss, but Mr Way recoiled.

“Frank, I… we need to talk.”

Frank sat down on the couch.

“Talk about what, Mr Way? We won…”

“Did we, though?” he asked. “Sure, we won our own battle, but look at us, Frank… are we any better?”

“Mr Way, we are better. You heard my friends, they said this was right. They said that what we have will be love if it isn’t already. Miss Sikorsky? She didn’t love any of those boys. She didn’t love _me_. You don’t rape someone you love, okay? Please, Mr Way, it’s different, we’re different…” Frank was pleading at this point.

“Frank, I could get put in jail for the same crimes as her.”

“No, Gerard, she was put in there for _rape_. You aren’t going to rape me. And only my friends know, so we won’t be caught. You aren’t going to be sleeping around.”

“I’m not going to be sleeping with you, either, Frank.”

Frank nodded, “That’s okay, I’m okay with that. I just don’t want to lose what we have here.”

“Yeah, I know, Frank, neither do I, but I don’t know if I can take that risk.”

“But-”

Mr Way looked up at him for the first time in the whole conversation.

“We’ll see, Frank. You should go now.”

Frank hung his head, getting up and walking out the door, not sure when he was going to walk in again. This was the sort of situation one might look to a guidance counselor for advice on.


End file.
